ABNAK
11-15-13, 23:05
I work at a VA hospital. One particular old fellow I've been taking care of for the last week or so is Mr. B. Found out tonight that he is a WWII vet, Okinawa with the 1st MarDiv. I regularly talk with vets when they're willing to do so, but Mr. B is hard of hearing and his son happened to be visiting tonight.
Mr. B was 19yo when he went to Okinawa. He was there a month before he was wounded on 1May45. He suffered severe damage to his hand and fingers (almost lost his fingers) as well as gashes in his head from a samurai sword. Now, if you are grievously wounded by a friggin' sword you KNOW it was up close and personal. He was eventually evac'd all the way back to the states where he spent months recovering at Bethesda. According to his son his hand has bothered him for years but looking at them now (which I did) you can see only a hint of crookedness.
Mr. B was on a machinegun crew (I'll assume a Browning 1919). He told me his unit suffered 85% casualties; absolutely mind-boggling. Two days after he was wounded his remaining crew members were killed. A few years ago the family of one of Mr. B's comrades located him, apparently through letters written by their grandfather whom they never knew. They travelled from Ohio to Tennessee to meet him. Mr. B's son said he never spoke of the war and deflected questions he and his siblings had asked as kids. However, Mr. B began to open up finally after all those decades when the family of his long-dead friend arrived. They wanted desperately to "know" the grandfather they had never actually known; Mr. B accomodated as best he could. This apparently was a cathartic event as Mr. B would finally talk, albeit limited, about his WWII experiences. He also got to do an Honor Flight, which I thought was awesome. While in D.C. the guy pushing his wheelchair told him he needed to open up......it had already begun.
Godspeed to these guys who still breathe among us. My FIL is another (Europe infantry vet). Although it is the inexorable march of time that will eventually claim us all one day, it is sad that their numbers are rapidly dwindling.
Oh......Mr. B still has that samurai sword. ;) Seems it didn't work out too well for the Japanese wielding it.
Mr. B was 19yo when he went to Okinawa. He was there a month before he was wounded on 1May45. He suffered severe damage to his hand and fingers (almost lost his fingers) as well as gashes in his head from a samurai sword. Now, if you are grievously wounded by a friggin' sword you KNOW it was up close and personal. He was eventually evac'd all the way back to the states where he spent months recovering at Bethesda. According to his son his hand has bothered him for years but looking at them now (which I did) you can see only a hint of crookedness.
Mr. B was on a machinegun crew (I'll assume a Browning 1919). He told me his unit suffered 85% casualties; absolutely mind-boggling. Two days after he was wounded his remaining crew members were killed. A few years ago the family of one of Mr. B's comrades located him, apparently through letters written by their grandfather whom they never knew. They travelled from Ohio to Tennessee to meet him. Mr. B's son said he never spoke of the war and deflected questions he and his siblings had asked as kids. However, Mr. B began to open up finally after all those decades when the family of his long-dead friend arrived. They wanted desperately to "know" the grandfather they had never actually known; Mr. B accomodated as best he could. This apparently was a cathartic event as Mr. B would finally talk, albeit limited, about his WWII experiences. He also got to do an Honor Flight, which I thought was awesome. While in D.C. the guy pushing his wheelchair told him he needed to open up......it had already begun.
Godspeed to these guys who still breathe among us. My FIL is another (Europe infantry vet). Although it is the inexorable march of time that will eventually claim us all one day, it is sad that their numbers are rapidly dwindling.
Oh......Mr. B still has that samurai sword. ;) Seems it didn't work out too well for the Japanese wielding it.